Summertime hits Lush Places like a fireball

'It's true,' the old man in the pub said.

'If you look out across from here on the longest day, you'll see the sun setting between those two chimney pots.'

'It's true,' he said. 'I'll bet you a thousand pounds.'

I'm not a betting woman but as the owner of one of those chimney pots, I was intrigued.

'Yes,' said the chap next to him. 'And when it happens, a shaft of light runs across the village square, like the Staff of Ra in Raiders of the Lost Ark, pierces through the pub window until its reflection hits the Palmer's 200 pump and then it hares off at a ninety degree angle to hit that stuffed deer head on the wall.

'And then the deer does a winky face, a cigar appears in its mouth and it starts to sing Summertime.'

This was an unnecessary embellishment on an already curious tale, but I could sort of visualise it happening in a place as odd as Lush Places.

'Don't listen to 'ee,' the old man said. 'You go and have a look on 21st June. You'll see.'

So, while people all over the country were heading for the summer solstice that morning at Stonehenge or, closer to home, the flat top of Pilsdon Pen, I was waiting for sunset.

I wasn't the only one. The other man who'd been at the bar walked by just at the same time.

'Just happened to be passing,' he said. Yeah, right. He doesn't even live in this part of the village.

'I don't think we'll be seeing much tonight,' I said. It was cloudy and overcast. I couldn't actually be sure if I'd come out of my front door too late.  There was a glow around the roof and that was about it.

And then, something strange happened in Lush Places, in the village square where the ley lines cross. The reflection of the setting sun hit my neighbour's window and turned the glass into a fireball.

But whether it hit the Palmer's 200 pump on the bar of the pub and woke up the singing deer, I'll never know.

That's about it.

Love Maddie x